stargazer48

About 3 weeks ago, I have began noticing that when I wake up in the morning that when I move the ring finger (I don't wear a ring) up and down, the joint, connecting the finger to the hand no longer moves smoothly but kinda snaps in and out. There is no pain involved (yet) and it seems to go away (so far) by midday. Also when I ride, my left hand seems to go a bit numb after about 10 to 20 miles so I occasionally raise my arm and wiggle my hand to life. That seems to work.
I don't have any arthritis that I am aware of.
Anyone have a clue?

Just a little background. I'm 58 and I ride about 5k+ annually. In the past, I only used drop down bars which created some tolerable wrist discomfort for me. I am going to be doing extensive world travelling shortly, so in April, I bought a Swift 18 speed touring folding bike with straight bars to take with me. I have been riding it exclusively and have already put in 1500 miles on it. It a great, fairly fast riding bike considering its 20" wheels with fat Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. I had some fitting problems which I think I recently resolved by lengthening the stem riser.

Thanks

SG

Retro Grouch 

You might want to experiment with a drop handlebar. That puts your wrists in a completely different position and may be the source of your problem.

Nightshade

Sorry to say but both drops and straight bars cause the rider (you) to
put way to much weight on your arms, wrist,and hands.

As we age circulation of the extremities often is resticted due to vein
issues. Then nerves are more tender to pressure due to age.

So my .02 is to consider (at 58) sitting more upright to give you tired
ol' body a break. At 60 I can't do drops or straight bars anymore as
it hurts to much.

Makeitso

I'm not sure if what happened to me is the same as what your'e experiencing but, I had a similar problem with my middle finger on the right hand. I would clench my fist and that finger would sort of lock clenched, at first it didn't bother me, after a while it started to hurt when I would open it. I went to a doctor after it started getting painful and I ended up having a cyst (spelling) actually in the palm of my hand where the tendon moves through what the doctor called sort of a pulley. The cyst was on the tendon that moves the problem finger. Anyway I went and had an out-patient procedure done on it and that took care of the problem, although for about 2 weeks I could not use that finger which meant basically the whole hand was out of commission for a while. It took about a month for me to get back to where I could use it again.

Maybe you have this maybe not. The unofficial name is "Trigger Finger", I have no idea what the scientific name is.

EDIT:

By the way, it took years from the time I noticed the problem until it got painful.

Red Baron

I tell my Grandkids to pull my finger - Wow! does it give relief!!!!!!

2manybikes

Classic arthritis symptoms. Only a doctor could tell.

scottogo

Are you taking any joint supplements like glucosamine?

stargazer48

No but I did take it when had some minor knee problem 4 years ago but it didn't seem to help.

chromedome

Sounds like a trigger finger starting, and the numbness might be the start of carpal tunnel syndrome. But a hand surgeon or an orthopedic surgeon can tell you best. There are some simple tests to see exactly what the problem is.

When your hands go numb, something that may help is reach your hand around your back and place the back of your hand on your back for a couple of minutes. You've probably seen other riders do this.